2003 NBA Draft Lottery Odds Determined

Eight ties among teams that finished the 2002-03 regular season with identical records were broken on April 28th through random drawings to help determine the order of selection for NBA Draft 2003, which will be held on Thursday, June 26, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City. For the first time in the history of the event, the NBA Draft Lottery will be a 30-minute television show, aired nationally by ABC.

Cleveland and Denver, who finished tied with a 17-65 record, will each receive 225 chances out of 1,000 in the NBA Draft Lottery. In the event that neither the Cavaliers nor Nuggets wins one of the first three picks in the Lottery, Denver will select fourth and Cleveland fifth. The Clippers have an 8.9% chance to secure the top pick, 9.75% odds to pick second, and a 10.78% chance to grab the third spot. Currently, the Clippers best odds are to land the 5th overall pick---which would be the first time in franchise history that they owned that position.

Stu Jackson, NBA Senior Vice President Basketball Operations, conducted the drawing live on NBA TV from the league office in New York. Check out the table below for a list of how teams will enter the 2003 NBA Draft Lottery .

Team Record
Chances
 1st Pick 2nd Pick 3rd Pick
Denver 17-65 225 22.50% 20.30% 17.63%
Cleveland 17-65 225 22.50% 20.30% 17.63%
Toronto 24-58 157 15.70% 15.80% 15.66%
Miami 25-57 120 12.00% 12.68% 13.39%
Clippers 27-55 89 8.90% 9.75% 10.78%
Memphis 28-54 64 6.40% 7.20% 8.23%
Chicago 30-52 44 4.40% 5.05% 5.91%
Atlanta 35-47 29 2.90% 3.37% 4.02%
New York 37-45 15 1.50% 1.77% 2.14%
Washington 37-45 14 1.40% 1.65% 2.00%
Golden State 38-44 7 0.70% 0.83% 1.01%
Seattle 40-42 6 0.60% 0.71% 0.87%
Houston 43-39 5 0.50% 0.59% 0.73%


Who's Around At #5?
Assuming the odds play out and Los Angeles is awarded the 5th overall pick, how has that spot fared in NBA Draft history? Considering that guys like Charles Barkely, Mitch Richmond, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Vince Carter, Scottie Pippen, and Jason Richardson were each the fifth player taken in their respective drafts---it would appear that plenty of talent has traditionally still been available after the fourth selection.